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Uncovering Tomorrow’s Natural Health Breakthroughs Today

Statins: The Great

Cholesterol-Lowering
Con Trick
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 Statins: The Great Cholesterol-
Lowering Con Trick
Statins – are you risking your health to line Big Pharma’s pockets?

A staggering 30 million people take statin drugs every day… in England alone seven million people
currently take statins, or one in three of the population over 40.

There is a massive push by the pharmaceutical industry to get everybody over the age of 50 to take
statin drugs, which block the production of cholesterol in the liver. We are told that too much
cholesterol raises the risk of heart disease and statin drugs are the best way to reduce cholesterol.

Sad to say, this marketing campaign won’t be derailed by anything as trivial as the truth – because the
fact is, cholesterol levels are not the best indicator of heart disease risk and statins come with some
alarming side effects including muscle wastage and liver failure.

The pharmaceutical companies go all-out to keep you from knowing this… because when you don’t
take their drugs… or when you prevent disease or heal yourself naturally... their profit margins suffer.
The simple fact is that cholesterol has been the scapegoat that has allowed the pharmaceutical industry
to make an eye-watering £60 billion a year from statins (including Mevacor and Zocor) which remain
the world’s best-selling drugs.

Don’t count on your doctor giving you the full facts either, as they’re offered financial incentives to keep
their patients’ cholesterol levels below certain limits… and statins remain the mainstream’s treatment of
choice.

In fact, their use is set to become more widespread as the National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (NICE) recently recommended that people who are reckoned to have just a 10 per cent risk
of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years should be offered statins.

There are two huge problems with this recommendation as Dr Briffa – editor of Agora Health’s
Cholesterol Truth blog (www.thecholesteroltruth.com) who works tirelessly to expose the truth about
cholesterol and statin drugs – reveals:

“The first is that the way heart disease risk is assessed is inaccurate, based on outdated
assumptions about the role of cholesterol that recent research has found to be invalid. In
fact, cholesterol levels are not a good indicator of heart disease risk. In a 2009 study, half the
people admitted to hospital with a heart attack (and 75 per cent of those with no prior heart
problems) had cholesterol levels within the normal ranges (Am Heart J. 2009; 157(1):111-
117). The second is that statins come with a huge range of dangerous side effects, including
depleting your body of co-enzyme Q10, a vital molecule for healthy heart function.”

Cutting cholesterol with statin drugs is a bit like shooting the bearer of bad news; it might make you
feel better, but it doesn’t actually solve the problem. For those who have already had a heart attack or
stroke, statins may help lower their chances of a second event occurring. However, most people taking
statins are prescribed them because their cholesterol levels are on the high side, despite a rigorous review
of clinical data in 2011 – including the results of 14 clinical trials involving nearly 35,000 patients –
showing that taking statins does almost nothing to reduce heart attack risk in people who have not

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previously experienced a heart attack (Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011;(1): CD004816).

As Dr Briffa says: “An objective appraisal of the evidence demonstrates that statins have no overall
benefit for those at low risk of cardiovascular disease (the majority of people who take them)”.

This, coupled with growing evidence of the horrendous side effects of statin drugs, means the bland
assurance that “the benefits of statins outweigh the risks” just won’t wash any longer.

Results of major pro-statin trial found to be biased and flawed

The main reason why cholesterol has been turned into such a villain is due to the corporate greed of
the multi-billion pound cholesterol-lowering drugs industry, which has largely influenced the medical
establishment’s all-too-common mantra, that when it comes to cholesterol lower, lower, lower is the key
to heart health.

However, many of these recommendations are not based on sound science… in fact they’re based on
research findings that have since been found to be flawed and heavily biased.

One of the largest statin drug trials, called JUPITER (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary
Prevention), which initially showed such astounding results in favour of statin drugs, turned out to be
riddled with inaccuracies, fiddled figures and over-hyped conclusions.

Yet, since the initial results were so positive, the mainstream quickly jumped on the bandwagon and
statins suddenly became the new ‘wonder drug’ promising a cure-all for almost every disease under the
sun… not only were they touted as a heart disease preventative but were even alleged to help protect
against everything from pneumonia to diabetes (which is rather ironic given that they’ve since been
found to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes).

The results of a study, published in the International Journal of Cardiology, even claimed that statin
drugs may help to stave off dementia. According to researchers from the National Taipei Medical
University and the National Yang-Ming University, both in Taiwan, patients who were given statin
drugs were 22 per cent less likely to suffer with brain problems than those who never took them.

Of course, the researchers don’t mention a thing about the fact that cognitive decline and memory loss
are two very common side-effects of statin drugs… experienced by many patients who take these pills.
Interestingly, these problems soon clear up shortly after statin medication is ceased in many cases. There
is evidence to back this up… research into 171 individuals who complained of statin-related brain
symptoms found that 90 per cent of people who stopped statins experienced an improvement in their
symptoms (Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 158, No. 7, 4/2/13).

In October 2012, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) noted in a Consumer Update
that memory loss, forgetfulness, and confusion “span all statin products and all age groups.” As a result,
the FDA changed the safety information on statin labels to warn patients that these drugs can cause
memory loss and cognitive decline.

Many of the so-called benefits of statin drugs are based on the results of the JUPITER trial. However,
closer investigation revealed that many of the JUPITER researchers were guilty of receiving financial
incentives from AstraZeneca (makers of the super-strong statin, Crestor, which was used in the trial, and
sponsors of JUPITER), therefore committing themselves to “selective outcome reporting”. This means
that they only disclosed results that fell in favour of statins, thus painting a much rosier picture than
would’ve been the case if they’d included a full list of the drug’s horrendous side effects.

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Investigation shows the underhand tactics employed to get the desired results
JUPITER, a two year study, involved 18,000 patients and was designed to see if Crestor reduced heart
attacks and strokes in patients with high inflammation in the blood stream, but with low-to-normal
cholesterol levels.

The trial ended early when a provisional analysis showed a 44 per cent reduction in the risk factors…
the final published results showed that statin (Crestor) use reduced heart attacks by 54 per cent, strokes
by 48 per cent and the need for a bypass by 46 per cent, compared with a placebo.

In 2010, a group of doctors and researchers, led by Dr Michel de Lorgeril – from Joseph Fourier
University and the National Centre of Scientific Research in Grenoble, France – accused JUPITER
researchers, in an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, of producing “flawed” trial
results and of having commercial interests in the drug tested. It turned out that all these claims were
true and, as a result, the JUPITER researchers admitted that the benefits of statins may have been
exaggerated.

Dr Michel de Lorgeril argued that there are major discrepancies between the reductions in non-fatal
stroke and heart attacks reported by JUPITER and the results of numerous other research trials: To date
JUPITER stands alone in its finding of showing a significant benefit of statin use in patients with no
history of coronary heart disease (CHD). He believes that because the results are clinically inconsistent
they should not be used to change medical practice or clinical guidelines.

De Lorgeril and his team also questioned AstraZeneca’s involvement in the trial. In their article, the
researchers point out that 9 of the 14 researchers in the JUPITER trial have financial relationships with
AstraZeneca.

Dr de Lorgeril also cited the early termination of JUPITER as one of several methodological problems
with the trial. In many clinical trials, there are pre-specified early stopping points, which are clearly
described in the trial protocol. However, this was not the case in the published description of
JUPITER’s protocol.

This leaves the question: which endpoint was used to define the rules for stopping, or which level of
benefits was required to justify early termination? It also makes one wonder if, along with a vested
interest and financial incentives, the JUPITER researchers ran the trial until they had the outcome they
were looking for.

Based on their review, Dr de Lorgeril believes there should be a critical reappraisal of cholesterol-
lowering statin treatments in the prevention of CHD and that their use takes the attention away from
the proven benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle, including regular physical activity, not smoking, and
a Mediterranean-style diet.

Why you need cholesterol to stay alive

For years, cholesterol has been portrayed as the heart disease ‘bogeyman’ – a substance that clogs up
our arteries, making it the major cause of heart disease and strokes. As a result mainstream medicine
has recommended cutting out cholesterol-rich foods, such as butter and egg yolks, and written endless
prescriptions for side effect ridden statin drugs in an attempt to push cholesterol to ever lower levels for
those with raised cholesterol levels.

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But, as Dr Briffa explains, this is where many problems can begin: “Recently, studies have shown that
the real picture is far more complex. Cholesterol is a natural substance produced by every cell and is
absolutely essential to life – in fact, Italian scientists have found that when serum cholesterol levels
are too low, the risk of death in older adults actually increases (Am J Med 2003; 115(4): 265-271). It’s
needed to form cell membranes, to produce hormones and bile salts and as the raw material for making
vitamin D in our skin when it is exposed to sunlight. Not only that but it helps in the formation of
your memories and is vital for neurological function.”

Because cholesterol doesn’t dissolve directly in your blood, it is carried round in little packages, along
with fats and proteins. It is packed up in special biological cases called lipoproteins, of which there
are two main types: low density lipoproteins (LDL) also known as ‘bad’ cholesterol, and high density
lipoproteins (HDL) otherwise known as ‘good’ cholesterol. The reason for these labels reflects their
individual functions within your body.

It is now known that only some kinds of low-density lipoproteins carrying cholesterol (LDL cholesterol)
are involved in the build-up of plaque in the arteries, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

Complicating things even further, it appears that LDL cholesterol only becomes dangerous when it is
oxidised by free radicals in the body.

Your LDL cholesterol level is determined by several variables, including cholesterol production in the
liver, cholesterol intake from food, smoking, stress, exercise and genetic factors. The cholesterol we
produce in our bodies is the biggest contributor to the levels in our blood. Intake from food is much
less important because the body has a clever feedback mechanism that reduces cholesterol absorption in
the gut when levels in the blood are already adequate.

HDL cholesterol actually scavenges deposited cholesterol from your arteries and delivers it to your liver
where it is broken down and eliminated safely from your body.

In addition, HDL is known to possess antioxidant activity and to help balance your body’s natural anti-
inflammatory response – both of which are important for repairing damage to the lining of your arteries
and for promoting cardiovascular health.

Statins only focus on lowering total cholesterol levels, rather than helping your body rid itself of the
potentially dangerous LDL cholesterol while increasing levels of the very necessary and heart-healthy
HDL cholesterol. Not only that but there are several other treatable risk factors for heart attack and
stroke, but statins simply ignore them.

Cholesterol isn’t the only threat to your cardiovascular system

If you listen to mainstream medicine, you’d be forgiven for thinking that cholesterol was the main risk
factor when it comes to cardiovascular disease. While cholesterol is a part of the heart health equation,
it’s not the only factor you should consider. Far from it, as mentioned earlier 75 per cent of heat attack
victims have normal levels of cholesterol (Am Heart J. 2009; 157(1):111-117).

It’s crucial that other risk factors, which can act as a red flag for heart disease, aren’t overlooked,
especially given the fact that cardiovascular disease (an umbrella term for all diseases of the heart
and circulation) is a major cause of ill-health and premature death. According to the British Heart
Foundation, cardiovascular disease remains one of the UK’s biggest killers, causing more than a quarter
of all deaths in the UK. Every day, around 435 people die from cardiovascular disease, the equivalent of

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a jumbo-jet crashing!

To assess your risk of heart disease most doctors use a simple formula that takes account of your age,
sex, blood pressure, whether you smoke and your total and HDL cholesterol levels. But how reliable
is it? Unfortunately, the emphasis on cholesterol levels dates back to assumptions made more than 20
years ago that new research has shown to be ill-founded.

In addition to lowering inflammation, the real key to heart health is not just your overall cholesterol, it’s
getting the right balance between your levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol and the ‘bad’ LDL, as well as
paying attention to their ratio levels with your blood triglycerides and lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a).
Lp(a) is a substance that is made up of an LDL ‘bad’ cholesterol part plus a protein (apoprotein a).
Elevated Lp(a) levels are a very strong risk factor for heart disease. This has been well established in
numerous studies, yet despite this very few doctors test for it.

But there are other, more significant risk factors that are being ignored, as Dr Briffa explains: “The
current risk assessment model fails to take into account C-reactive protein (CRP) – a substance
produced by your liver in response to inflammation – which is considered by many medical experts
to be a more reliable marker for cardiovascular complications than cholesterol levels. This is because
atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) requires inflammation to take place, so if CRP is elevated the
stage is set for potential heart problems.

Another serious threat to your cardiovascular health that is all too often overlooked is high levels
of homocysteine – an amino acid that promotes the build-up of plaque on your blood vessel walls,
increasing your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Adding a person’s homocysteine level to the traditional
heart disease factors mentioned above has been found to significantly improve the accuracy with which
heart disease risk can be predicted (J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011; 58(10):1025-1033). A new study of
middle-aged men in India has concluded that high levels of homocysteine and ischaemic heart disease
are not only linked, but that homocysteine is the causal factor (J Indian Coll Cardiol. 2013; 3(2):49-
51).”

So why doesn’t your doctor test your homocysteine level? The plain fact is that, unlike cholesterol,
which provides the drugs companies with a huge market for their profitable statin drugs, there is no
money to be made out of homocysteine. That’s because homocysteine can be kept down to a healthy
level simply by taking a combination of B-group vitamins.

Another important cardiovascular disease risk factor includes depleted co-enzyme Q10 stores… which,
ironically, is one of the side effects of statin drugs!

How statins could increase your risk of cardiovascular problems

Statin drugs block the manufacture of cholesterol in the liver, but in the process also block the
production of co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is essential for the release of energy in body cells and
for many body processes, including cardiac function.

CoQ10 is vital to the production and transfer of energy needed to fuel over 100,000 heart beats every
day. It also plays an important role in protecting the cardiovascular system against free radicals and
oxidative damage.

Organs with high energy requirements, such as the heart, need the greatest amounts of CoQ10. But as
we age, we lose much of our supply of CoQ10, particularly in the heart. At the age of 80, for example,
CoQ10 levels are cut by more than half. And taking statin drugs further depletes the body of this

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essential heart nutrient.

CoQ10 has been found to be an important factor in chronic heart failure. A study from New Zealand
has shown that the blood level of CoQ10 in patients with this condition is an accurate indicator of their
risk of dying from it – the higher their CoQ10 level, the better were their chances of survival (J Am Coll
Cardiol. 2008 Oct 28;52(18):1435-41).

One clinical study found that people who started taking daily CoQ10 supplements within three days
of a heart attack were less likely to have subsequent heart attacks and chest pain. They were also less
likely to die of heart disease than those who did not take the supplements (Mol Cell Biochem. 2003
Apr;246(1-2):75-82).

In addition, CoQ10 could help to reduce high blood pressure, a major contributing factor to
cardiovascular disease risk. A meta-analysis of 12 clinical trials concluded that 100mg to 120mg of
CoQ10 daily reduced systolic blood pressure by as much as 17 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by
up to 10 mmHg, without significant side effects (J Hum Hypertens. 2007; 21:297–306).

If you do plan to supplement with CoQ10 there’s one important factor you should take into account…

Ubiquinol is 8 times more effective than ordinary CoQ10

In order for CoQ10 (ubiquinone) to release vital energy from your cells and to counteract the effects of
disease and ageing, it needs to be converted to its active form, ubiquinol.

Because ubiquinol is unstable outside your body (it just reverts back to CoQ10 when exposed to
oxygen), it has not been possible to use it as a dietary supplement until now. But recent ground-
breaking research carried out in Japan has revealed a way to stabilise ubiquinol so that it doesn’t get
broken down (Method of stabilizing reduced coenzyme Q10. Patent application number US 2005/0008630
A1. January 13, 2005). This means that for the first time ubiquinol can be used directly in capsule form,
in a supplement called BioActive Q10 Ubiquinol, to boost blood levels of this vital nutrient.

Taking a supplement of ubiquiniol – in the form of BioActive Q10 Ubiquinol – may have the same
health benefits as a much larger dose of CoQ10, because it is delivered to the cells already in its active
form and so cuts out what may otherwise be an inefficient conversion process of CoQ10 to ubiquinol.

Human studies show that taking ubiquinol increases blood levels an incredible eight times more
efficiently than ordinary CoQ10. This means that only 50mg of ubiquinol is needed to achieve the
same ubiquinol blood level as 400mg of ordinary CoQ10 (Ann Nutr Metab. 2003;47(1):16-21).

Don’t risk the devastating side effects of statin drugs

You only need to look at all the known side-effects of statins to realise that any possible benefit from taking
these drugs comes at a massive price to your health. Many scientists now believe that the risk of side effects
from statin drugs outweighs their rather limited benefits (Rev Recent Clin Trials. 2012; 7(2):150-157).

The most common side effect is statin myopathy (muscle pain and tenderness), which can make
everyday activities like walking or climbing stairs difficult. A new review study describes this side effect
as “a significant clinical problem” and the main reason why many people stop taking the drugs (Expert
Opin Drug Saf. 2011 May;10(3):373-87. Epub 2011 Feb 23).

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Here’s what one reader wrote to us recently: “I need help. One year after stopping statin therapy I still
have severe joint and muscle pain. This was after only taking the statin for 3 months. Can you refer me
to any articles/web sites/books on how to cure this problem or a path to recovery? I’m almost desperate
as nothing is helping so far. I take Ibuprofen every day just to take the edge off.”

Research has shown that muscle pain and weakness occurred in up to one-third of those taking
statin drugs, with moderate or severe muscle pain occurring in 100 to 300 women (out of 226,000
participants)… but it doesn’t end there.

Statins have also been found to cause rhabdomyolysis, a rare but potentially deadly condition in which
large numbers of muscle cells die and release myoglobin (a protein) into the blood that can cause kidney
failure (FDA Talk Papers T01-34, August 8, 2001).

Statins block a normal metabolic process in the body called the ‘mevalonate pathway’, which produces
several different compounds. These include not only cholesterol, but also co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
and a molecule called dolichol. As already mentioned, CoQ10 is needed for healthy heart function and
muscle function (among many other things), while depletion of dolichol can cause insulin resistance
and type 2 diabetes (Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172(2):144-152).

A recent review of several clinical trials has shown that taking statins can increase the risk of diabetes by 13
per cent on average (Curr Opin Cardiol. 2011 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print]). A meta-analysis, which looked
at data from 154,000 postmenopausal women, revealed that women taking statins had a 48 per cent greater
risk of diabetes, compared with similar women not taking statins (Arch Intern Med. 2102; 172(2):144-152).

In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has issued new labelling guidelines for
statin drugs, warning users that taking them can result in elevated blood sugar levels, diabetes and
memory loss. Millions of people take statins on a daily basis, raising the possibility of thousands of
statin-induced diabetes cases. In fact, the massive worldwide use of these drugs since they were launched
around 25 years ago could go some way to explaining the parallel ‘diabetes epidemic’.

Statins may also increase the production of liver enzymes, which can cause irreversible liver damage.
Other adverse effects include nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, nosebleeds, headaches, cataracts, hair
loss and digestive problems. They are also linked to depression, loss of cognitive function and memory,
nerve damage and sexual dysfunction (Am J Cardiovasc Drugs 2008;8(6):373–418).

Statins have also been found to cause cancers in laboratory animals, in some cases at doses equivalent
to those prescribed to humans (JAMA 1996; 275(1): 55-60). According to new research, statins could
even increase the risk of prostate cancer (Chang CC, Ho SC, Chiu HF, Yang CY. Statins increase the risk of
prostate cancer: A population-based case-control study. Prostate. 2011 Apr 7 [Epub ahead of print]).

Contributing editor to The Cholesterol Truth blog, Dr Briffa recently wrote an on-line letter to the
British Medical Journal (BMJ) in which he lists several reasons why the trials on which so many statin
safety statistics are based are likely to miss the majority of problems:

“There are many ways by which statin randomised controlled trials (RCTs) may end up ‘missing’ adverse
effects. These include the facts that:

1. Commercial sponsors of clinical trials may not be motivated to search exhaustively for potential side effects.
One pointer to this is that diabetes diagnoses have only been documented in a very small minority of statin trials.

2. Many trials do not state clearly how and how often adverse effects were assessed. Because of this, it is far

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from certain that all adverse events have been recognised and logged appropriately.

3. Trial volunteers tend to be enthusiastic individuals, and may therefore be less likely to report side effects
than patients in routine clinical practice.

4. Many trials have a ‘run-in’ period where individuals are given a placebo to help ensure adequate
compliance with medication. This can cause studies to be ‘enriched’ with highly motivated individuals who,
again, may be less likely to complain of side-effects.

5. One major statin trial, The Heart Protection Study – headed by Professor Sir Collins, employed a run-
in period which subjected all potential participants to the active drug. Individuals with evidence of adverse
events were excluded, which obviously means a higher percentage of ‘statin tolerant’ individuals made it
into the study proper Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group (MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of
cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20,536 high-risk individuals: a randomised placebo-controlled trial.
Lancet. 2002;360(9326):7-22).

6. Several studies are of short duration and, worse still, may have been subject to early termination (something
which tends to downplay harm and exaggerate benefits).

7. In many trials, adverse effects are only deemed to have occurred if there’s been extreme deviation from normal
biochemistry (for example, judging that myopathy has occurred only when creatinine kinase levels are 10 times
the upper limit of normal or higher). Setting the bar this high obviously works to depress side effect rates.”

7 drug free ways to keep your heart healthy and prevent heart disease
Keeping your heart and circulatory system healthy without resorting to statin drugs isn’t rocket science.
We asked our nutrition expert, Martin Hum, to come up with seven simple steps you can take to ensure
good heart health:

Take a supplement of CoQ10, which improves blood flow to the heart muscle, enhances arterial
elasticity and lowers blood pressure. Remember, the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 is up to eight times
more potent than standard CoQ10.

Follow a Mediterranean diet that includes heart-healthy fatty acids from olive oil, nuts and oily fish, as
well as the benefits of fresh fruits, salads and vegetables.

Cut out added sugars as far as possible. Study after study has shown the link between sugar intake and
coronary heart disease.

Eat tomatoes. Research shows that lycopene, the red pigment in tomatoes, reduces the risk of
cardiovascular disease.

A safe, natural way to reduce your cholesterol levels, lower your blood pressure and prevent plaque
build-up in your arteries is to eat linseeds, also known as flaxseeds.

Sit less and move more. Just reducing the time you spend sitting down each day will cut your risk of
having a heart attack or stroke.

Take curcumin, an incredible herbal all-rounder for keeping your arteries and heart healthy, combatting
diabetes and even preventing Alzheimer’s disease and arthritis.